Citizen engagement project
- 1. Citizen Engagement Project Prevention of fire outbreaks in local markets in Port Harcourt City Local Government Council, Rivers State Nigeria. Introduction With incessant fire outbreaks in our markets across the country and in the City of Port Harcourt, resulting in huge losses of funds and valuable materials in both private and public sector. The remote and immediate causes are not far- fetched from ignorance, carelessness, unsafe acts and unsafe conditions created by the market operators themselves. For instance, throwing cigarette stubs in areas where there are combustibles, leaving electrical appliances on overnight, storing petrol (fuel) in the shop etc. It becomes imperative to create awareness and equip Citizen and operators in the market with the necessary knowledge and skills required to combat the menace of fire outbreak. The societal Problembeing addressedandobjective of CitizenEngagement Project: The Problem of incessant fire outbreaks in local markets in the City of Port Harcourt, which has destroyed goods, properties and created unemployment. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: i. To educate all participants on the remote and immediate causes of fire incidents. ii. To educate the participants on the skills needed for firefighting in event of fire outbreak. iii. To train and equip fire wardens to be able to effectively use portable firefighting equipment in events of fire outbreak. iv. To train fire wardens on the use of modern Fire Alarm System. This Project is aimed at equipping the Citizens/participants with the necessary tools to prevent and combat the menace of fire outbreak and also for the installation of modern Fire Alarm System that can be easily activated in event of an outbreak.
- 2. The Key Players: This Citizen engagement is spearheaded by the Port Harcourt City Local Government Council. The Port Harcourt City Local government Council is best placed to spearhead this project because The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 provides in the Fourth Schedule one of the main functions of Local Governments in Nigeria to be; the establishment, maintenance and regulation of slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks and public conveniences. This makes the Port Harcourt City Local government Council the constitutionally empowered entity to administer and manage activities in markets in the city. The targeted Citizens are; Traders, Market men and women, Shop owners, Timber traders, Security men, Supervisors and relevant Stakeholders. Participation is for all for all stake holders in the market. Designated fire wardens are selected through nominations from the various market unions and sections in the market. In a typical local Nigerian market, shops are divided in lines/sections according to the goods, commodities and services they render or sell. Designated fire wardens are chosen by their Lines/ sections to oversee their lines/ sections. Port Harcourt City Local government Council will partner with a private Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) company to provide the training. The private company will design the Training manuals, Modules, carry out the practical trainings, and install and activate the fire alarm system. How the Project will work: The tools requiredfor this project are as follows; 1, Instruction Board
- 3. 2, Writing materials (Writing sheet, pens, chalks etc) 2, Fire extinguishers 3, Materials for fire simulation 4, Market square/ hall for lectures 5, Fire Alarm System Below describes the syllables or area of concentration of the training an awareness project. The training will be in four (4) modules as follows: MODULE 1: Theoretical lecture. ? Introduction and definition of fire. ? Different classes of fire ? Various causes of fire ? Method of preventing the different classes of fire. MODULE 2: Practical Class ? Various types of fire extinguisher ? Occasions where they are used ? Applications and correct usage ? Improved method of fire fighting MODULE 3: Practical class ? Fire safety ? Practical demonstration of the use of fire extinguisher ? Installation and activation of the fire alarm system ? Individual roles in the event of fire MODULE 4: ? Fire prevention hints ? Evacuation procedure in event of fire outbreak ? Appointment of fire wardens. The tools requiredfor this project are as follows; 1, Instruction Board 2, Writing materials (Writing sheet, pens, chalks etc)
- 4. 2, Fire extinguishers 3, Materials for fire simulation 4, Market square/ hall for lectures 5, Fire Alarm System Risk and Opportunities: The Challenges the project will face will include; 1, Availability of citizen participants. For the project achieve the desired outcome it will have to be held on a working day to ensure availability of participants. The challenges would be to get participants to leave their businesses to take part in the project. This can be overcome by asking each line/ section to mandatorily send a nominee to represent them. This nominee can in turn pass on his/her knowledge to those that were unable to participate. 2, Communication: Most of the local traders are uneducated and may not be able to understand and communicate learning outcomes of the project. This also can be overcome by the provision of an interpreter. 3, Finance: This project would involve financing and the source of Finance may be a challenge. This can also be overcome by either the local Government Finance or by contributions from the beneficiaries who very often lose their sources of livelihood to fire outbreaks. Opportunities can be leveraged from this Project by Private HSE companies who can provide the training services. How to Know the Success of this Project: The most obvious indicator of the success of this project is to monitor the occurrence of fire outbreak. Another indicator is to observe the response of the fire wardens in an even of fire outbreak in the market.
- 5. Another indicator is to observe the level of preparedness of participants to successfully combat fire outbreak by organizing periodic fire drill exercises.